An extract, translate, and load system (ETL) is a computer-based system that extracts data from a specified data source, transforms the data to convert it into a desired state, and loads the transformed data to a specified destination. An ETL system may be used to integrate two subsystems. Transformations may include operations such as reformatting, sorting, filtering, combining data columns, or other types of modifications.
A data integration project is a computer-based program or collection of programs that perform ETL operations. Data integration projects often depend on the environment in which they are deployed. The environment includes the data systems to which they connect, receive data, and output data. An environment may include a collection of various software or hardware components, such as computers, computer subsystems, files, tables, addresses, or the like. An environment in which a data integration project executes may change, as a result of deploying the project to a different environment, components of the environment changing, or of other reasons. For example, a data integration project may be tested in a test environment and deployed in a production environment. A project may be deployed in multiple environments. Multiple data integration projects may be executed in a common environment.